This is an acoustic instrumental I've been working on recently. I'm experimenting with panning and delay to give this mix a more open yet dreamy feel. I am using very little of anything reverb wise on the acoustic guitars. I wanted the high bouzouki part to be a more distant part as a kind of hook, so I added a delay bus and sent it into the bus only automating at the tails in places.
 
In your opinion, is the effect too much? Should I make this part tighter as well? 
 
UPDATE- I just couldn't get the kind of delay I had in my head on this one so I pulled the high zouk part and added a D tuned Uke part instead. I hope you like it! 
 
https://soundcloud.com/starise/celtic-starise-dandilion-queen
 
Thanks!
 
 
 
 

Yeah Tim , this tune has a nice vibe ,
You must be doing something right . When I played your tune on my monitors , a bunch of birds few over into the trees outside my deck and started chirping along too your music
As far as the delay thing go's , I would have too listen a few more times ....I did notice things got real loose near the end of the song .
Overall , I was more caught up in how nice your acoustic and bouzouki sounded to me as I listened as opposed to listening critically .
 
all the best,
 
Kenny

Really nice tune and playing Tim.
Panning works great in separating the instruments but not sure if the delay helps. Maybe back off the send level a bit?

The instruments sound great, as always!   Just out of curiosity, what is your recording chain?
 
Mix-wise, I agree with Daryl that the delay is a bit strong and covers the acoustic a bit.  Maybe lower the send a little and/or remove some high-end from the delay bus? 
 

Great, dreamy instrumental and in my opinion the effect is *not* too much, it's perfect.  The whole time I'm listening I'm wishing I had something to roll up...

Another lovely piece Tim. Short and sweet...

Tim,
 
While I like your delay idea, might I suggest using a gate or something to round off the attack prior to the delay? I think it will sound dreamier that way.
 
Or, instead of a gate, your could simply copy the tails to a separate track and use automation to smooth off the attack.
 
Regards,
Dan

Tim I like the tune, the playing is as always very good, however I found the delays started to interfere with the instruments perhaps subtle fades on the echo's as they replicate in the sound-stage.

Kenny- Hey I appreciate your evaluation speedy fingers :) I pulled this into shape a little better. It's funny you mention birds around your place...I **** you not, I was in my back yard last year plucking on the Martin and a whole bunch of blackbirds came right to where I was. My first thought was...what have I done? Remember Hitchcocks bird movie...this was close.
 
Daryl- Thanks. You're a real sport. I can't think of a better way to say that the delay sucked :) I appreciate you listening!
 
SteveC- I had three sends in the original mix.( see edited first post ) One was a deeper reverb. Another was a delay which I tried to automate with the end of the zouk part. The next one was an eq only for the zouks. You know how you get that uneasy feeling in your gut when something is almost right but still leaves you hanging? The first mix made me feel like this....so I reworked it. Took away all sends except for the small delay and added a very small reverb into the master bus. Something I don't often do but it seemed to work this time. Then I dropped the zouk and added a uke.
 
Vodalavoid- Thanks man. I'm not supposed to be doing that in my state. :) I'm glad you liked the first version. I didn't hate it but it seemed to be better with a tighter feel.
 
Syncrotron- Many thanks for your comments. Much appreciated!
 
Dan- Thank you. That would have worked I'm sure. Me and delays are like oil and water most of the time so I opted to tighten it up more. I hope you like this last one better.
 
Wookie- Thank you for confirming my thoughts on this!
 
 
 

Hi, Tim,
 
I'm late to the party here, so I didn't hear the original mix, but I really like the melodic flow and your great playing on this version!
 
The acoustics sound nice and it's got a very authentic Celtic vibe, really nice instrumental!
 
Good stuff, have a great night!
Bob